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For sixteen years, it served as the foundation for sweeping emissions standards and costly compliance programs.
Now, that foundation is gone.
In a formal statement, the Environmental Protection Agency said the new rule “eliminates both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond.”
Zeldin framed the repeal as a restoration of legal boundaries and consumer freedom.
“For sixteen years, the Endangerment Finding has been the source of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” Zeldin said. “The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans, and advancing the American Dream.”
Trump argued that the regulation unleashed an avalanche of rules without direct congressional approval.
“The Endangerment Finding was used to justify over a trillion dollars in regulations, and none of it was authorized by Congress,” the president said. “We are putting an end to government overreach that hurt jobs, hurt families, and hurt our economy.”
EPA officials estimate that eliminating the greenhouse gas framework and related compliance programs will save Americans more than $1.3 trillion in regulatory costs. The rollback also targets vehicle mandates and credit systems that critics say distorted the auto market and inflated sticker prices.
Zeldin even took aim at one feature drivers have long complained about.
“As an added bonus, we are eliminating the universally despised start-stop feature—the Obama switch that made every car stall at red lights in the name of climate virtue-signaling,” Zeldin said.
Importantly, the EPA emphasized that the repeal does not touch standards for traditional pollutants such as sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides. The change focuses solely on greenhouse gases and the authority the agency claimed under the Clean Air Act.
In its final rule, the agency stated: “The agency firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding exceeded the EPA’s statutory authority under the Clean Air Act. A policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress.”
Zeldin pointed to recent Supreme Court decisions that have curbed the regulatory reach of federal agencies. He cited rulings such as West Virginia v. EPA and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo as guiding principles in the decision.
“We looked at the Clean Air Act, we looked at what the highest court in the land said, and we used a very simple metric,” Zeldin said. “If Congress didn’t authorize it, EPA shouldn’t be doing it.”
The original Endangerment Finding followed the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that greenhouse gases could be treated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act if the agency determined they endangered public health or welfare. The Obama administration quickly made that determination, unlocking years of expansive climate regulation.
Trump’s reversal signals a dramatic shift back toward a narrower reading of federal power.
“We are following the law as Congress wrote it, not as activists wish it to be,” Zeldin said.
Conservative legal advocates applauded the move. The Pacific Legal Foundation said in a statement that “the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding triggered a trillion-dollar regulatory cascade that Congress never authorized.” The group added that the repeal “restores the principle that decisions of this magnitude require clear congressional authorization, not bureaucratic improvisation.”
Zeldin closed the announcement with a sharp rebuke of the climate policy regime that dominated Washington for years.
“The Endangerment Finding was the ‘Holy Grail’ of the climate change religion,” he said. “Today, that era is over. The Trump EPA is delivering energy independence, consumer freedom, and the rule of law back to the American people.”
With one stroke, the regulatory architecture that shaped U.S. climate policy for more than sixteen years has been dismantled. The political and legal fallout is certain to be fierce. But for supporters, the message from the Roosevelt Room was unmistakable: the era of unchecked climate mandates is over.
